I am virtually handing you a Tissue because this story will bring happy tears to your eyes:

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While on vacation in 2009, our family hiked at Coker Creek Falls in eastern TN. About 3/4 of the way there, Grace (age 9) started asking questions about the hike. She had been on some hikes before with her dad and her YMCA Indian Princess tribe, but she didn’t know what to expect from this place that no one in the car was familiar with. I gave her the booklet so she could read about Coker Creek Falls to see if that helped at all. And I tried my best to answer her questions, and give her encouragement, but things went downhill quickly..

Me: “Do you trust me? Have I ever taken you somewhere to do something that I knew was not safe? I brought Felicity and Jackson with us. Would I bring the little ones to someplace I thought was very dangerous and where one of you could die?”

She becomes slightly more rational…

“There are a lot of bad things that could happen that I’m afraid of. I was all excited till I found out what this hike was!”

I reflect her feelings.

“I know we have never been to Coker Creek Falls. I know it’s a new experience and that can make you nervous and scared. I know that you’re afraid that you could get hurt. But I’m here to keep you safe and to make sure nothing bad happens to you”

More freaking out. More crying and shaking.

I encourage.

“You can do it! It’s an adventure! Come with us!”

More hemming and hawing and crying and hiccuping.

By the time we got to the parking lot, I was emotionally exhausted already and my ears were hurting from her crying and yelling. Seriously. I didn’t know how I was going to hike, let alone have the mental and emotional resources to help my children.

About five minutes into the trail, which had been gentle and sloping, we came to a manmade set of stairs and railings meant to help people descend to an area recommended for going out onto the falls and even hiking up the rocky crags in the falls! Lily, Felicity, and I scampered down to the bottom, but realized that we needed to have worn crocs or water shoes, as well as swimsuits, to enjoy the falls that way. We scampered back up, and attempted to continue on our hike.

Grace was having none of that. She took one look down the path, as it narrowed and curved downward, and started absolutely freaking out.

She started stomping her feet and screaming to have someone stay with her or take her back to the car. I decided that she needed to be brave and come along, because the rest of the family wanted to take the hike.

Grace: “I can’t go on any further!”

Me: “Yes you can, I know you can do this.”

Grace: “I’ll just stay here”

Me: “Honey, you can’t stay here.”

Grace: “Ground me from everything, just please don’t make me do it!”

I felt badly for her. I knew she was really really terrified. But I also knew that this was a teachable moment, and that if she would come and have the adventure with us, that she would be proud of herself for doing it.

I showed her that Felicity, who was 3 at the time, was ambling up and down the trail ahead of us. I reminded her that I had done a scouting mission to check out the trail. I asked her if she would hold onto me with her hands around my arm, and showed her that I would hold her around the shoulders, and that we could go a little ways. We took baby steps, but we made some progress past the manmade railing point. She was sill hiccuping a little, and shaking and clinging to me, but we started down the path with no more verbal resistance!

Yay!

A few times we even got to the point where she was just holding my hand and not clinging to me!

We started on our return trip about 20 minutes later, and she had relaxed enough to converse and look around. I suggested that we each take a small quartz-looking stone from the path to remind us of our journey, and she agreed to do that.

Felicity was hiking ahead of us, and chirped “We hiking in the magic rainbow forest!”

28 thoughts on “Proud Mommy Moments: Jenna from Made More Beautiful is Visiting Today”

Yay for Grace, so glad she conquered her fear and what an amazing mom you are to push her a bit to do it. We have that same trouble, balance what my younger kids want to do with what my oldest is comfortable doing. I’m always so proud of her when she hangs in there and engages with us.

Jenna, you’re a wonderful mother and handled that beautifully. My toddler is a cautious one, and I anticipate that there will be similar incidents with him. I hope that I can handle it as well as you did!

Thank you, she is the queen of not wanting something before trying it. With food, I started by allowing her to have something different than the main dish she “probably” wouldn’t like, and after she was finished, I requested that she try a bite of the new thing. I made the environment safe, I wasn’t forcing her into the idea of having the new thing for dinner, and often, she liked what I had served after all.

I can COMPLETELY relate to that. It is soooo hard when you know they are genuinely scared, you know you need to validate that feeling and make sure they know it’s important but life and the rest of the family goes on and they need to too. That and the fact that their reaction to the experience is more then we would expect and it is something we know they can do!! It exhausting being a momma!!! In the end when they look at us and are proud… it’s all worth it!! Even if we feel a little spent! Beautiful story… As usual!!! MWAH

Dear Kir, you do have the best mommies featured here! Jenn is definitely one of the mommies I’m happy to see at Mommy Proud Moments! I love her!

Jenn, I’ve got to hand it to you. You were so patient and loving in how you handled the situation with Grace. We mommies know just how difficult it is to keep our cool under that kind of stress, and I think you were beyond wonderful! You remained positive, calm, yet firm in that you believed Grace would benefit from overcoming her fears.

This is certainly a Proud Mommy Moment! For both Grace AND you, my friend!